FIRST KISS rocker Gene Simmons came out saying depressed people should “kill themselves”, now punk rocker Henry Rollins says he has “disdain” for Robin Williams taking his own life.

In a column for LA Weekly which has sparked criticism online, Rollins said Williams should have considered his three children before killing himself.

“How in the hell could you possibly do that to your children?” he wrote. “I don’t care how well adjusted your kid might be — choosing to kill yourself, rather than to be there for that child, is every shade of awful, traumatic and confusing.”

“I think as soon as you have children, you waive your right to take your own life,” he said. “I have many records, books and films featuring people who have taken their own lives, and I regard them all with a bit of disdain.”

“They have nullified their existence because they wilfully removed themselves from life,” he went on. “Almost 40,000 people a year kill themselves in America, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. In my opinion, that is 40,000 people who blew it.”

Williams, 63, took his own life two weeks ago after suffering with depression and addiction for years. He has recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Simmons was forced to apologise after he made comments where he showed little sympathy for addicts and those suffering with depression.

“Drug addicts and alcoholics are always, “the world is a harsh place”. My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany, I don’t want to hear f*** all about “the world is a harsh place,” he said.

Apology ... Kiss frontman Gene Simmons.Source:Supplied

Rollins too has apologised unreservedly for his comments after a social media backlash, saying he had received letters from all over the world and “the anger is off the scale and in my opinion, well placed.”

“The article I wrote in the LA Weekly about suicide caused a lot of hurt. This is perhaps one of the bigger understatements of all time. I read all the letters,” he said. “That I hurt anyone by what I said, and I did hurt many, disgusts me. It was not at all my intent but it most certainly was the result.

“I have had a life of depression. Some days are excruciating. Knowing what I know and having been through what I have, I should have known better but I obviously did not. I get so mad when I hear that someone has died this way. Not mad at them, mad at whatever got them there and that no one magically appeared to somehow save them,” he said. “I am not asking for a break from the caning, take me to the woodshed as much as you see fit. If what I said has caused you to be done with me, I get it.”